Results 21,281-21,300 of 33,049 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Mortgage Lending (14 Jul 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: I fully appreciate the concerns many people are experiencing about mortgage applications and drawdowns at this difficult time, and my Department is maintaining close contact with the Central Bank and Banking and Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI) as the lending industry works to address the difficulties the Covid-19 situation is causing for both borrowers and lenders. In this context, the...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (14 Jul 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: The legislation underpinning the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme (TWSS) provides that payments to employees under the scheme are not taxable in real-time through the PAYE system. As the Deputy will appreciate, this was in keeping with the need to get financial support into the hands of affected workers as quickly as possible. The subsidy payments remain liable to income tax and universal...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Public Inquiries (14 Jul 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: I wish to inform the Deputy that there are no tribunals, public investigations or commissions of investigation set up under my Department. My Department is a stakeholder in two commissions of investigation, however these are set up under the Department of the Taoiseach.

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tax Reliefs (15 Jul 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: I understand that the Deputy is referring to the stamp duty relief for transfers of land to young trained farmers. The young trained farmers stamp duty relief, which is currently due to expire on 31 December 2021, provides a full exemption from stamp duty on transfers of farm land to certain young trained farmers. Section 81AA of the Stamp Duty Consolidation Act 1999 (SDCA 1999)...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Value Added Tax (15 Jul 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: The European Commission Decision C(2020)2146, adopted on 3 April 2020, provides for the importation of goods to fight the effects of COVID -19 (including personal protective equipment) from outside the European Union without the payment of VAT or Customs Duty from January 2020. Such relief is permitted where the goods are imported by or on behalf of State bodies, public bodies and other...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Mortgage Lending (15 Jul 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: As you will be aware both officials and myself have engaged and will continue to engage extensively with the Banking and Payments Federation (BPFI) and the banks directly in relation to supports for personal and business customers affected by the COVID-19 crisis. Officials in my Department are alert to issues raised directly by the public and these inform the Department’s ongoing...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Mortgage Lending (16 Jul 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank the Deputy for his good wishes on my new role. I look forward to working with Members of the Dáil and with finance Ministers across Europe over the next two and a half years. To deal with the Deputy's question, the members of the Banking and Payments Federation of Ireland, BPFI, introduced a payment break for their customers on 18 March last. These payment breaks were agreed...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Mortgage Lending (16 Jul 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: It was my job as this issue was developing to work with the banks to ensure provisions were put in place to allow payment breaks to be given to mortgage and loan holders at a time when they needed them the most. When we were facing into this period, we were looking at a public health crisis and an economic emergency. As a result of the work done by the Department of Finance and me and the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Apple Escrow Account (16 Jul 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: The Deputy will be aware that the General Court of the European Union annulled the European Commission's state aid decision of 30 August 2016 with respect to Apple. The court concluded that the Commission in its decision had failed to demonstrate that by issuing the opinions in 1991 and 2007, the Irish authorities had granted the two Apple companies, ASI and AOE, a selective advantage. The...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Apple Escrow Account (16 Jul 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: In pursuing this issue, the only interest I have had in mind is that of the many hundreds of thousands of people who work in very large companies in this country. At a time of economic turmoil, when we are seeing rates of employment and rates of income change very quickly, the only interest I have had, in three years of dealing with this matter, is how we can continue to stand over an...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Apple Escrow Account (16 Jul 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: What I want is to have the tax revenue available to pay for public services and to, for example, generate a huge income subsidy support plan over a matter of days that played a role in hundreds of thousands of jobs being retained. I want to have the tax revenue to allow us to bring in payments like the pandemic unemployment payment. My interest is in having the tax revenue to deliver the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Corporation Tax (16 Jul 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: Companies in Ireland are mainly taxed at the standard corporation tax rate of 12.5%. Different methodologies are used and while some of them lead to different claims regarding our tax rate, it is important to look at recent work done by the Revenue Commissioners, which published an updated analysis of returns filed in 2018. They noted that the effective rate of tax paid by all companies in...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Corporation Tax (16 Jul 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: I have already relayed to the House my views on unanimity and the need for national sovereignty regarding particular tax matters to continue to be recognised by the European Union. I will continue to hold that view in the future, as I expect this House will as well. In fairness to the Deputy, while he may have raised questions regarding the speed at which change has been brought in and the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Corporation Tax (16 Jul 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: I will use my role as the Minister for Finance for Ireland to pursue what I believe are longstanding clear matters for our national interest. That is what I have done in recent years and it is what I will continue to do. I will respond at another point to the ruling concerning anti-money laundering, but in the brief answers I have given to the Deputy, I have pointed to that vast amount of...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Mortgage Lending (16 Jul 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: I absolutely appreciate the concerns many people are experiencing about mortgage applications and drawdowns at a difficult time, and my Department and I are maintaining close contact with the Central Bank and the Banking and Payments Federation Ireland, BPFI, as the lending industry works to address the difficulties Covid-19 is causing for both borrowers and lenders. The Central Bank has...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Mortgage Lending (16 Jul 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: I understand the concerns of Deputy McAuliffe's constituents, Derek and Sandra. I want to be in a position to ensure that if a loan is made available to Derek and Sandra, they will always be in a position to be able to repay that loan without facing additional financial hardship or difficulty. We are all aware of the huge stress and anxiety that can also be caused by the development of debt...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Mortgage Lending (16 Jul 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: I completely understand the issue that Deputy has raised. I again recognise the concern that many people have who have not seen their incomes change. The Deputy made a crucial point about citizens moving on to the income support wage subsidy scheme. In many cases, their income has not changed, which is one of the reasons we brought in the scheme. Even though the income has not changed, I...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Credit Unions (16 Jul 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank the Deputy for his good wishes. I propose to take Questions Nos. 5, 7 and 67 together. The Government recognises the key role that credit unions play in the delivery of financial services to local communities across Ireland, the need for which is now heightened. Credit unions account for approximately one third of the consumer credit market and are well positioned to provide credit...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Credit Unions (16 Jul 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: I will comment briefly on the question about a new Act. I am not going to give a commitment now on new legislation until I know what the legislation would be needed for and its role. However, I am open to any changes that I believe can play a positive role in supporting the role of the credit union movement in Ireland. Deputy Nash touched on two points that I accept. The first is the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Credit Unions (16 Jul 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank the Deputy for his good wishes. I will absolutely do my best to live up to my responsibility as Eurogroup president and to fulfil the mandate I have been given. Deputy O'Sullivan put a question to me. I hope in the coming days to receive a report that will consider several of the issues the Deputy has touched upon. The Deputy asked about the relationship between the regulator...